Blog

A music distribution platform that brings artists and audiences together; without advertising, subscription fees, or inhuman algorithms.

Tip Jar

Listeners are encouraged to pay artists with tips. Artists receive 100% of the tip value. We work with banks that waive transaction costs, so that tips are not reduced by fees.

Album Continuity

We allow listeners to hear an album in the order that the artists have arranged it, preserving continuity and supporting a seamless segue between tracks. This keeps auxiliary tracks (such as quotes, quips, and interludes) adjacent to, and in context with, all primary content.

Room to Grow

Since we are not limited to the play time supported by physical media (such as vinyl, CD, or cassette tape), we place no limit on the length of an album; or the length of a single.

Optional Extras

Album/Single art images/videos are supported, but not required. All you need is sound! Each track on an album can also have its own art images/videos. Synchronized lyrics are supported in all languages. Synchronized chord/tab/music notation is supported as well.

Karaoke Tracks

We encourage artists to release karaoke versions of their songs (where singing of the lyrics is silenced), along with synchronized lyrics/chords/tabs/music, so that listeners can sing along with their favorite songs.

Tell your Story

Artists can optionally write and distribute stories along with their creations, providing insight on the creation of the music.

Artist Pages

Each artist gets their own page. Their creations will be listed and playable. Artists have complete control of the order of their content.

Musician Pages

Each individual musician gets their own page; whether they are a member of a band or a featured musician in the creation of another artist.

Pay it Forward

In order to distribute their creations, artists must earn or purchase upload credits. They may also provide metadata that aids reviewers in the approval process, such as genres, influences, categories, stories, etc. If the music is written by others, artists are encouraged to give credit where credit is due.

Purchasing Upload Credits

Upload credits can be purchased by paying reviewers a flat-rate sum to review/approve/reject uploaded content. Reviewers get paid the same flat rate, whether they approve or reject content, and rejections can be re-reviewed (by a completely different set of reviewers) for the same flat-rate sum. Reviewers must provide their reasons for rejection, as well as help fill in metadata for approved content, such as genre, influence, category, etc.

Earning Upload Credits

Upload credits can be earned by reviewing content uploads submitted by other artists. Instead of being paid the flat-rate sum, artists will earn upload credits by reviewing content. They must provide their reasons for rejection, as well as help fill in metadata for approved content, such as genre, influence, category, etc.

No Algorithm

None of the music will ever be analyzed by some inhuman algorithm in order to extract metadata (such as genre, influence, category, or style) from it. Reviewers alone will either detect or affirm the metadata fields set by the artists. Pattern-matching and other detection tools may be used to help reviewers detect copied/fake/stolen content, but they will be encouraged to listen to each suspected dupe (alongside the content that it may be a dupe of) and judge the situation for themselves. A listener who selects a particular artist will only hear music by that artist. A listener who selects a particular genre will only hear music in that genre. Listeners will be encouraged to explore, however, and be able to select a list of criteria by which they would like to listen, such as artists influenced by a particular artist.

No Industrial Waste

Our systems and software are as optimal as possible, built by actual human engineers; not by random code generators (otherwise known as Artificial “Intelligence” or AI). As a result, our servers (as well as your devices) run efficiently and do not require wasteful industrial-scale cooling.

Is it Art?

We will never attempt to answer this question: If there is an audience for it, it is art. If the audience is moved enough to drop tips in Tip Jars, it is art; albeit art that is funded, which may lead to the creation of follow-up art. Art that has no audience, for whatever reason, is still art. This condition may cause artists to re-think or re-create their art until they find themselves an audience.

How do we Get Paid?

Our fate is the same as that of the artists (and reviewers) on the platform: Everyone will be encouraged to drop tips in Tip Jars for:

• The engineers that create and maintain the software
• The operations people that keep the software running
• The company (Dal Segno Tech) and its investors
• Operational expenses, such as hosting, banking, and legal

What About the Existing Music Industry?

This platform is decidedly not for what is already out there: That industry is still based on antiquated notions that no longer apply, or contracts that have been milked for decades past the original expected viability. Streaming services rake in huge profits by selling advertising airtime and collecting subscription fees; paying only pocket change to the artists that create the actual content. We have no expectations from the Existing Music Industry. We would gladly work with them, for example, on helping us detect submissions that violate rights already reserved on existing content.

Forward to the Future

We are doing this for the new music; the music that is being created right now, and the music that will be created in the future. We are doing this for the artists, so they can get paid for their creations, without having to pay expensive distribution fees (the costs of recording/mixing/mastering/talent are high enough on their own). We are doing this for the listeners, so they can discover their new favorite music, never pay subscription fees, and never distracted by advertising or music that is not on the list of what they are open to hearing. Most of all, we are doing this to liberate all present and future music from from the iron grip of the Music Industry.

Further Reading

End of the Music Industry

Musicians have needed help distributing their creations since before recorded history (pun partially intended).

First, it was scribes, making copies of sheet music using pen and ink. The invention of the printing press made it possible for a composer to distribute their music to the World. Fame and fortune was within reach (albeit posthumously).

The Music Industry started with the publishing, printing, and distribution of sheet music. Previously obscure composers became famous, sometimes able to earn a living off of what remained after the Music Industry took its share.

“He gets to be famous, I get to be rich!” – Tom Petty

The Music Industry became insanely wealthy with the advent of music recording technology. The expense of stepping into a recording studio was too high for most musicians to afford, so we developed a dependency on the Music Industry to “discover” us, grant us a contract, and make a sick profit off our creations. Every format change guaranteed a re-sale of already purchased material, making the profits even higher. There seemed to be no end to the wealth.

Then the Internet happened.

Digital music is just data.

The binary code, that represents a piece of music, can be stored as a binary file as sure as it can be etched on a CD or magnetized on a DAT. And a binary file can be copied; shared; downloaded.

People could get music for free.

The Music Industry lost control of distribution. After all of the resulting legal action, it has since become a mere shadow of what it used to be.

Most of the infrastructure is still in place.

For example, when musicians distribute their creations through the Internet Streaming Services, they pay for the right to do so. They pay fees to keep their music alive. They receive royalties, mere fractions of a penny, when someone listens to their music. The Internet Streaming Services have picked up where the Music Industry left off, taking the bulk of the advertising/subscription wealth for themselves before handing the remaining pocket change over to the musicians.

The time has come for this to end.

After all, Digital music is just data.

Imagine a music streaming service that collects no money from musicians distributing their creations. Instead, the musicians receive 100% of what listeners deposit in their Tip Jar. Listeners pay no subscription fees; and are not forced to listen to any advertisements. Musicians pay nothing to keep their music alive, but they do get tips (otherwise known as income) from listeners that like it enough to pay for it.

But who will pay the infrastructure expenses?

Just like the listeners paying the musicians, they can also make a deposit in the Tip Jar of the streaming service. Benefactors could pay some of the infrastructure expenses; or the providers of infrastructure could offer services for free (as in waive banking fees for tips, offer free data streaming for broadcasting, and free Internet/Web hosting for storage).

But is it art?

Yes. If someone feels like paying a tip for it, then it is art.

It does not matter if it is a piano being whacked by a rubber chicken, a banana duck-taped to a viola, or AI generated slop: If it moves someone enough to pay for it, then it is art.

Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that the Music Industry has gotten us this far. So many of my aspirations, as a performing artist, are built around the edifices that the Music Industry built.

But we no longer need it.

It is time to move on.

It is time for the end of the Music Industry.

Everything we do is for musicians first. Our products may have non-musical applications, but those are treated as secondary side-effects rather than core functionality.